Christmas Novena 2024 - Day 3

18th December: O Adonai... 

O Adonai, and leader of the house of Israel

who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

Based on Isaiah 11:45 and Isaiah 33:22, the title Adonai, refers to the Lordship of Yahweh, that the people of Israel always stressed on. From a generic universal history that yesterday's "Wisdom" reminded us of, today's "Adonai" comes down to the particular experience of Exodus, the watershed of the Spirituality of the people of Israel.

The Symbols are burning bush, to remind the experience when Moses surrendered to Yahweh and the stone tablets of the commandments, the symbol of Israel's surrender to Yahweh. What is stressed is the Lordship of Yahweh, which is the key to the God-experience of the Israel and our faith-experience today.

The Lord of Israel, our God is Supreme over all beings of the earth or the heavens, the Lord of history and the Lord of the future. This is nothing that God would insist on holding on to, because God stands to gain nothing whether we accept or reject God's losrdship; it is we who stand to gain or lose! When we accept the Lordship of the Creator, we find meaning, significance and purpose in everything that happens in our life; when we do not surrender, every bit of what happens can become a concern and a cause for sadness and dissatisfaction. Hence the call is to Surrender, to the lordship of the Lord.

The prayer today is that of a SURRENDER to the redeeming power of God, to be led by the Lord's hands always - from darkness to light, from folly to wisdom, from death to life! 

The Joy of Integrity of the Reign!

Advent 2024: A Pilgrimage of Hope towards Peace with Joy - the Nature of the Journey!

Third Wednesday in Advent - December 18, 2024

Jeremiah 23: 5-8; Matthew 1: 18-24

 

The Lord-our-Integrity is a profound title we see given to the Lord in the experience of the Old Testament people; it is today correlated to another title – Emmanuel, God-with-us. The first reading and the Gospel together present to us a great grace that God offers us and a challenge that accompanies that.

The grace is that the Lord-our-integrity is with us! When we see the times that are so treacherous and unpredictable, value stripped and sometimes even malicious, if we still live with out faith and hope, we thank the Lord, the Lord of integrity, who is with us and who strengthens us. With that grace alone can we go ahead and remain sane and grow saintly.

The challenge is that the Lord-our-integrity is with us, and we are challenged to live up to the presence of the Lord, in righteousness and justice, nobility and integrity. The presence of the Lord-with-us is not conditioned by the Lord in anyway, because it is an unconditional presence, by the very fact of the covenant and the choice of the Lord to come amidst us. It is conditioned by our choices – like Joseph, are we ready to do what the Lord wants us to do? If not, we create a condition where the Lord cannot be with us, because we choose to be away from the Lord and the Lord’s ways.

O Adonai, Ruler of Israel, we call out to the Lord in the O Antiphon of the Novena, declaring the Lordship of our Saviour who wishes to come and be with us. Do we mean that declaration?